Ethereum: Blockchain Token – What is it?

Ethereum continues to pave the road that Bitcoin originally laid. It offers a significantly shorter block time than Bitcoin, at 10 seconds as compared to a whole 10 minutes. This short block time allows this blockchain platform to act as a possible payment system, and offers other more efficiencies in various transaction types.

Limiting Ethereum to only a currency application would be a mistake. It offers a decentralized platform where anyone can build decentralized applications, or dApps, on their blockchain. As a result, many developers have chosen the Ethereum blockchain on which to build.

Despite this promise, the platform still faces scaling concerns before mainstream adoption. That just means that if more people use the network, there has to be a way to deal with this extra volume.

While Bitcoin has turned out to be great currency for storing value, it is limited in the applications that can be built off of its chain. Enter Ethereum.

Ethereum was established in 2013 by Vitalik (Vi-taa-lick) Buterin (Beau-ter-in). Designed specifically for functionality, it is a platform that allows developers to build decentralized applications, or dApps, on its network.

Additionally, beyond being a functional platform, Ethereum has launched its own cryptocurrency known as Ether. The protocol operates via “Smart Contracts,” which are coded contracts that are programmable to execute specific actions autonomously. The cryptocurrency, Ether, is used as a tool, so to speak, that allows these protocols to run and be validated. The blockchain uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to compute these transactions and interactions within the network. It’s essentially the engine that allows execution of smart contracts.

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